Tacitus: The Histories, Volumes I and II eBook

On the next day Vitellius granted an audience to the
deputation of 69 the senate, which he had told
to await him at Ticinum. He then entered the
camp and spontaneously complimented the troops on their
devotion to him.[382] This made the auxiliaries grumble
at the growing licence and impunity allowed to the
legions. So the Batavians, for fear of some desperate
outbreak, were sent back to Germany, where Fortune
was contriving for us a war that was at once both
civil and foreign.[383] The Gallic auxiliaries were
also sent home. Their numbers were very large,
and had been used at the first outbreak of the rebellion
for an empty parade of force. Indeed, the imperial
finances were already embarrassed by the distribution
of largess, to meet the expenses of which Vitellius
gave orders for depleting the strength of the legions
and auxiliaries. Recruiting was forbidden, and
discharges offered without restriction. This
policy was disastrous for the country and unpopular
among the soldiers, who found that their turn for work
and danger came round all the more frequently, now
that there were so few to share the duties. Besides,
their efficiency was demoralized by luxury. Nothing
was left of the old-fashioned discipline and the good
rules of our ancestors, who preferred to base the security
of Rome on character and not on money.

Leaving Ticinum Vitellius turned off to Cremona.
There he 70 witnessed Caecina’s
games and conceived a wish to stand upon the field
of Bedriacum, and to see the traces of the recent victory
with his own eyes. Within six weeks of the battle,
it was a disgusting and horrible sight; mangled bodies,
mutilated limbs, rotting carcasses of men and horses,
the ground foul with clotted blood. Trees and
crops all trampled down: the country-side a miserable
waste. No less revolting to all human feeling
was the stretch of road which the people of Cremona
had strewn with laurel-leaves and roses, erecting altars
and sacrificing victims as if in honour of an Oriental
despot.[384] The rejoicings of the moment soon turned
to their destruction.[385] Valens and Caecina were
in attendance and showed Vitellius over the battle-field:
this was where their legions had charged: the
cavalry took the field from here: this was where
the auxiliaries were outflanked. The various
officers[386] each praised their own exploits, adding
a few false or, at any rate, exaggerated touches.
The common soldiers, too, turned gaily shouting from
the high road to inspect the scene of their great
struggle, gazing with wonder at the huge pile of arms
and heaps of bodies.[387] There were a few who reflected
with tears of pity on the shifting chances of life.
But Vitellius never took his eyes off the field:
never shuddered at the sight of all these thousands
of Roman citizens lying unburied.[388] On the contrary,
he was very well pleased, and, unconscious of his
own impending doom, he offered a sacrifice to the
local deities.